Our good friends, Pat and Pete, came down from Maine on Friday for a short visit.  Fortunately, it included lunch.  They are among our most knowledgeable and enthusiastic food friends, so we were delighted to share with them.

Upon arrival, they each had an cup of espresso.  In the meantime, I was just finishing baking two loaves of bread — Forkish’s Overnight White Bread recipe, slightly adjust to 80% white bread flour, 10% home-milled Buckwheat flour, and 10% home-milled Triticale flour, instead of all white flour.

Fortunately, Barbara was up early and anticipated my needs very well, so she prepped all the ingredients for the frittata I planned to make.

Frittata ingredients ready to go
Farm fresh eggs | Grated Parmesan | Leeks | Zucchini | Mushrooms | Parsley | Thyme | Rosemary |

Frittata for four

I also needed a first course, so I made dishes of two slices of beets with a filling between them of almond milk ricotta puréed with black olives, accompanied by toasted slices of fresh bread, plate of olives, plate of pickled items, and the remaining three small lunch box peppers.   The beet stacks were plated atop a bed of fresh watercress and arugula.  The wine was a bottle of Aaron’s Unsanctioned (50% Sangiovese, 50% Petite Sirah) from AZ.

Steamed beets | Almond Ricotta and Olive Pur?e | Assorted olives | Pickled cukes, turnips, peppers, jalape?os, grilled mushrooms | Herbs | Lunch Box sweet peppers |

Almost forgot: Barbara provided her signature cookies (Cranberry Chocolate Chip and Chocolate Chocolate Chip) for dessert.

Happy Holidays, and buon appetito!